A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on existing home sales for October and the index of leading economic indicators for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in Cleveland, Ohio at 8:30 a.m. ET, while Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, Minnesota at 10:10 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 12 points to 27,788 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 1.75 points to 3,107.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 7.75 points to 8,284.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $62.20 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $56.86 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.4% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.5%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.48%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1.57%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.25% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.19%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at UBS downgraded Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT from Neutral to Sell and lowered the price target from $49 to $48.

Applied Materials shares fell 3.1% to $57.80 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• La-Z-Boy Incorporated LZB reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter.
• SunPower Corporation SPWR priced its 22 million share public offering of common stock at $7 per share.
• Cubic Corporation CUB reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued weak FY20 earnings forecast.
• L Brands Inc LB reported in-line earnings for its third quarter and issued strong Q4 outlook.